Stephen Okwechime opens up about the design lessons behind UBA’s banking platform

In a continent where over 350 million adults remain unbanked, designing a banking app isn’t just about aesthetic animations; it’s about access, trust, and usability.

That’s the mindset Nigerian product designer Stephen Okwechime brought to his role while working on parts of the UBA mobile banking platform.

“We weren’t just designing for the elite in Lagos,” he says. “We were thinking about the trader in Aba, the tailor in Jos, and the farmer’s wife in Benue who just got her first smartphone.”
With over 350 million unbanked adults across Africa, banks are racing to go digital but often, the user experience fails to reflect the realities of these new users.

“For financial inclusion to be real, the product has to be usable,” Stephen notes. “If it’s complicated, slow, or assumes too much technical knowledge, you’ve already locked out the people you want to serve.”
One of the key lessons from redesigning UBA’s platforms was simplicity.
“We stripped things down. The goal was to make it easy enough that someone using mobile banking for the first time could navigate it without frustration,” he says. “Three taps, that was our benchmark for most core tasks like checking balances or transferring funds.”

The team also had to consider infrastructure gaps. Nigeria’s internet access is uneven, and many people still rely on low-end Android devices.
“We tested our designs on phones with bad screens and poor network. It’s humbling,” Stephen admits. “But it makes the product better. You realize that slick transitions mean nothing if your app doesn’t load on 3G.”

Another major insight was around cultural relevance. Too often, African platforms mimic Western design norms, icons, flows, even the terminology without accounting for local expectations.

“In one test, people didn’t understand what ‘debit card’ meant. They just called it ‘ATM card.’ That tiny insight changes how you label buttons, write tooltips, and craft onboarding.”
Despite the challenges, Stephen believes inclusive design is entirely possible but only with intention.

“You have to ask yourself, who am I excluding with this design? Who can’t complete this flow? If your interface only works for young, tech-savvy city dwellers, then you haven’t designed for Africa, just a fraction of it.”

As more fintech products emerge, Stephen hopes inclusion becomes more than a buzzword.

“Financial inclusion starts with design,” he says. “Before people trust your product, they need to understand it. Before they can use it, it has to work for them.”

Designing for the masses means designing with empathy, clarity, and realism, not just aesthetics.

“If we get the design right,” Stephen concludes, “we’re not just creating apps. We’re creating access. That’s the real power of UX in Africa.”